The present invention relates to a drilling machine, as known from EP 2 754 531 B1. The present invention further relates to a use of such a drilling machine and the present invention relates to a system using such a drilling machine.
Generic drilling machines having a spindle for rotatably driving a drilling tool which is attached or can be attached are commonly known from the state of the art. In particular fixed box column drills exist in addition to hand drills made for manual handling, and different embodiments from private to industrial use are available.
In addition to its rotatory drive, in particular drilling machines used for industrial purposes often require another function besides the motor-driven spindle drive, namely the generation of an axial feed for the (drilling) spindle-special requirements, for example in industrial mounting and production environments, often necessitate a controlled feed adjusted to a drive power for the spindle rotation and to the properties of a material to be drilled, said feed not being sufficiently achievable only by manual operation.
Accordingly, providing a displacement drive on the spindle (causing an axial spindle feed or a spindle movement) in addition to the rotatory spindle drive is known from the state of the art by means of different approaches existing parallel to each other. Apart from drive solutions separated from one another for the rotation drive as well as for the axial displacement, particularly integrated solutions are also considered for this purpose, allowing both operational functionalities on the spindle by means of suitably integrated shared transmission solutions. GB 2 489 018 A for example discloses a drilling machine technology for industrial use in which, realized via a coupled pair of epicyclic gear trains, an integrated transmission arrangement transfers the rotatory momentum of a main drive as well as a feed or displacement momentum of a displacement drive onto the drilling spindle in the intended manner and ensures an appropriate decoupling within the scope of such integrated transmission arrangements.
However, this known solution has proven to be technologically demanding and constructively sophisticated, with there being room for improvement, in particular with regard to a simple production possibly suitable for series production.
A corresponding improvement has been made in the form of the technical teaching of EP 2 754 531 B1. Based on the technical principle of the state of the art of the aforementioned document, a modular transmission is proposed in this case, again by using an (albeit individual) epicyclic gear train, said modular transmission transmitting the drive torque of two drive motors—a first drive motor for the spindle drive and a second drive motor for the axial spindle displacer—to the spindle in such a way that a compact and operationally reliable device is created having a limited number of components.
Constructively essential for realizing the (shared) transmission of this known technology is providing the epicyclic gear train whose sun wheel is connected to the drive motor which is intended for the spindle displacement. Planet gears of the epicyclic gear train mesh the sun gear and engage in an annular internal toothing of a cup-shaped wheel, which in turn causes the rotatory spindle drive on the exterior. The translation ratio of the transmission affecting the spindle feed is thereby especially affected by the sun wheel, the planet gears and the inner toothed rim.
While this known technology according to EP 2 754 531 B1 is elegantly constructed and is realized having a minimized number of transmission components, a technology of this type nevertheless seems inflexible and therefore in need of improvement, in particular regarding a variable production of generic drilling machines—it can make sense, in particular with respect to a construction or a setup of known drilling machines according to the preamble of the independent claim, to adjust or appropriately set up the feed in accordance with a field of application of the drilling machine, in particular in accordance with the type of bores, typical drilling machine tool diameters, material characteristics of the work pieces and the like. This is particularly useful for the technologically challenging and sensitive area of aircraft manufacturing, for example, where, besides typical metal materials, in particular an increasing number of composite (plastic) materials are to be drilled which have other requirements with regard to an axial spindle displacement commonly provided and intended to be driven.
While the technology according to EP 2 754 531 B1 could for this purpose generally provide the variable electronic control of the motor which is provided for and coupled with the displacement drive, such an adaptability nevertheless often proves to be insufficient in practice, for example with regard to the desired torque characteristics. Mechanically adjusting the transmission translation for the displacement drive train for the preamble of the state of the art according to EP 2 754 531 B1 would, however, cause significant constructive efforts because due to the inner rim of the cup-shaped component of the known technology which is involved in this transmission translation, it is not only difficult to adjust different embodiments of the drilling machine constructively and geometrically (which in turn also applies to the embodiment of the sun wheel, which typically sits on a shaft associated with the displacement drive motor), but these component groups, in particular the internally toothed components, are also expensive and sophisticated to produce and to assemble.